Already this weekend, Funny Car standout Matt Hagan has plenty of pressure from teammates Jack Beckman and Johnny Gray, who
closed
Friday qualifying in the Nos. 2 and 4 spots, respectively. Dogging him
as well is the Ford contingent of Mike Neff, Bob Tasca III, and John
Force, who also are in the top six.

As if that weren't enough, Hagan is haunted by words from his boss, Don Schumacher: "You're only as good as your last run."

Hagan came into the NHRA Gatornationals, still agonizing about his most
recent run -- a final-round holeshot loss at the Winternationals to
Robert Hight -- a result he said "makes you want to throw up in your
helmet."

But, by the end of competition Friday at Gainesville
Raceway, Hagan had a track-record 4.030-second pass (at 309.84 mph)
which landed him atop the qualifying order overnight in the Die Hard
Dodge Charger.

Maybe now Hagan can shake that angst, the angst
of finishing second to Force for the 2010 championship and of falling
short against Hight in his February return to Pomona.

"I
wanted to get out here and make a run," the eager Hagan said. "It does a
lot for my confidence to come out here and run some numbers like we
have been and know that we're going to have a fast car on Sunday."

He said thinking about the ones that got away -- races which yield a
less-than-perfect performance -- are constructive, not burdensome to
him.

"It's so easy to forget the ones you didn't do well at. I
try to remember those," he said, "and make sure you don't tuck them
away and write 'em off."

Going back to the season opener, he
said, "We should've won that one. We had the car to beat. I left a
little bit on the table. It was one of those things where I got caught
with my pants down. You look over and think, 'I hope that was good
enough.'

"That whole week I changed up what my routine was.
But no excuses. Robert was ready, and I wasn't. Next time I've got to
dig a little deeper," Hagan said. "To let my guys down like that, it
definitely hurt inside . . . to know they worked so hard to get us there
and me being the weakest link."

Hagan gave kudos to the
Safety Safari for its track prep Friday in Gainesville, saying, "To be
able to run an .03, you have to have a good track. The track's real good
out there. The Safety Safari has been doing a great job."

He
said the Tommy Delago-prepared Charger "was on a great run. It was going
everywhere but straight. I was trying to reel it in and keep it in the
groove."